Tuesday, July 06, 2010

“So Who Owns You?” - An Attitude

How do you answer the question which is the title to this post?  I know how I answer this question.  No one owns me, I own myself.

This question, “So who owns you?,” according to Lee Harris, was the impetous for his most recent book The Next American Civil War: The Populist Revolt against the Liberal Elite, and the question was also the impetous for an article in The American titled The Spirit of Independence: The Social Psychology of Freedom, which is well worth your time to read.

A quote from Harris’ essay in regards to the answering of the question which poses as the title to this post.

In retrospect, their answers were more profound than mine. My answer came from the head; theirs from the heart. Many of those who responded from the heart probably knew very little about the philosophy behind libertarianism. Perhaps some had read John Locke or John Stuart Mill back in college, but most of them might best be considered natural libertarians. They knew they couldn’t stand the idea of someone else owning them, someone else telling them what to do or how to think, of someone else bossing them around. They all felt competent to manage their own lives and deeply resented any attempt by other people, including the government, to manage their lives for them. Rightly or wrongly, natural libertarians are firmly convinced that no one else can know their best interests more than they do. They insist on remaining in charge of their own destinies and bristle whenever other people seem intent on taking charge of their lives. Because natural libertarians respect their own independence, they respect the independence of others. They do not aspire to control other people’s lives, but when other people aspire to control theirs, they will resist tooth and nail. The natural libertarian will behave this way not because of an ideology, but because of his or her distinctive attitude towards life.

What is your attitude toward life?

Arts & Letters Daily.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/06 at 08:19 AM
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